SBIR Phase I: Automated In-Situ High-Resolution COVID-19 Wastewater-Based Epidemiology

SBIR 第一阶段：基于废水的自动化原位高分辨率 COVID-19 流行病学

• 批准号: 2041400
• 负责人: Joyce Wong
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: FLUIDION US Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-01 至 2023-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2041400&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Automated; Situ; Resolution

The broader impact of this SBIR Phase I project addresses the monitoring needs via wastewater-based epidemiology of current and emerging viruses that pose high risks to public health. With the rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic situation and the recent emergence of the coronavirus variants, one common concern is that the virus variants are more contagious than their predecessors, and will likely spread quickly within communities without early detection and warning. Other concerns are that future mutations may not be covered by existing vaccines, in which case early monitoring through high resolution wastewater-based epidemiology will become one of the only effective means of providing early alerts of the presence of such mutated virus variants within local communities. With a wide adaptation of the proposed instrumentation by municipalities, large and small communities such as college campuses and senior care facilities, the project enables the early detection and monitoring of the current coronavirus and its variants during the pandemic. The technology can also be extended to other emerging viruses with risks of community spread in the years to follow, not only in wastewater but also in widespread environmental and recreational water quality monitoring.The proposed project is a highly-optimized reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) approach for in-situ sampling and analysis, and the realization of a corresponding instrumentation platform that is applicable to the early detection and monitoring of different viruses, including the current coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), its variants, and other emerging viruses. The proposed technology aims to reduce the time-to-result compared to current wastewater-based epidemiology approaches while minimizing cost and logistics. The effort will include the testing of several protocols that are amendable to adaption for automated in-situ SARS-CoV-2 measurement, followed by the selection and optimization of the most suitable one. The protocols will be subsequently tested and validated using spiked samples, along with appropriate positive and negative controls. The approach will implement, for the first time in an automated device, the latest advances in molecular biology protocols, such as extraction-free single-step RT-qPCR. The project strives to achieve the first in-situ RT-qPCR available, with the potential to completely revolutionize the fields of wastewater-based epidemiology, general environmental testing and source tracking.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该SBIR第一阶段项目的更广泛影响通过对对公共卫生构成高风险的现有和新出现的病毒进行基于废水的流行病学研究来满足监测需求。随着大流行形势的迅速演变和最近出现的冠状病毒变种，一个共同的担忧是病毒变种比其前身更具传染性，并可能在没有早期发现和警告的情况下在社区内迅速传播。其他关切是，现有疫苗可能无法涵盖未来的突变，在这种情况下，通过高分辨率废水流行病学进行早期监测将成为对当地社区内存在此类突变病毒变体提供早期警报的唯一有效手段之一。随着市政当局、大学校园和老年护理设施等大小社区对拟议仪器的广泛适应，该项目能够在大流行期间早期发现和监测当前的冠状病毒及其变体。该技术也可以扩展到其他新兴的病毒，在未来几年内，不仅在废水中，而且在广泛的环境和娱乐水质监测中，都有社区传播的风险。拟议的项目是一种高度优化的逆转录定量聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）方法，用于原位采样和分析，以及实现相应的仪器平台，适用于不同病毒的早期检测和监测，包括当前的冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）及其变体和其他新兴病毒。与当前基于废水的流行病学方法相比，拟议的技术旨在缩短得出结果的时间，同时最大限度地减少成本和物流。 这项工作将包括测试几个协议，这些协议可以适应自动原位SARS-CoV-2测量，然后选择和优化最合适的协议。随后将使用加标样本沿着适当的阳性和阴性对照对方案进行测试和验证。该方法将首次在自动化设备中实现分子生物学协议的最新进展，例如无提取单步RT-qPCR。该项目致力于实现第一个原位RT-qPCR，有可能彻底改变基于废水的流行病学，一般环境测试和源跟踪领域。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。